RANGERS have begun moves to bring Hibs star Steven Whittaker to Ibrox in a £1.8m deal.

RANGERS have begun moves to bring Hibs star Steven Whittaker to Ibrox in a £1.8m deal.

At Murray Park today, boss Walter Smith completed the £2.5m signing of Osasuna defender Carlos Cuellar on a four-year deal.

Now SportTimes understands he wants Whittaker to bolster his options on the right.

Rangers switched to the 23-year-old Edinburgh-born Whittaker after their move for Bordeaux's French midfielder Julien Faubert collapsed last weekend over his £6m-plus fee.

Whittaker is currently in Austria with John Collins' Hibs squad on pre-season training.

But it is believed a deal will be done for the player, who has watched pals like Scott Brown, Derek Riordan, Kevin Thomson, Ian Murray and Gary Caldwell all move to the Old Firm.

Hibs denied last month they had agreed a deal, but moves are going on behind the scenes and Whittaker is keen to make the switch to Ibrox. Birmingham City, Bolton, Boro and Celtic have all been impressed with Whittaker's progress, but Rangers now hope to land him as competition at right back, with Alan Hutton the only recognised player for that position.

The 6ft 1in Whittaker has also excelled in a right-midfield role, and his versatility means he can also operate in central defence.

As first revealed in SportTimes on May 16, stopper Cuellar has been a major target of the summer for Smith, and becomes his sixth permanent signing and his most expensive.

He flew in last night and agreed personal terms and passed a medical today after the clubs agreed a fee at the third time of asking.

Osasuna say Rangers will pay £2.5m for the 25-year-old, who has a four-year contract worth £15,000-a week - double his Spanish wages.

He said: "I'm delighted to be here finally after the long negotiations. I am looking forward to the move and I've come here to win things."

Smith said: "We were impressed with Carlos when we went to watch Osasuna before our Uefa Cup tie and also in the tie itself. We're delighted to sign him.

"We then followed up on that and decided to make an offer. I'm very pleased we have now done the deal and I feel sure he will be an excellent addition."

Smith has backed away from the Steven Naismith saga and says he is now looking at other targets. A striker and another midfielder remain high priorities.

Stevie Smith's fitness will be monitored before a decision is taken on whether a new left back is required.

Gers have until July 25 to sign players for the Champions League qualifier at Ibrox six days later. Smith would still like to offload the likes of Libor Sionko, while young defender Antoine Ponroy, who still has a year to go, has been allowed to go on trial at Cannes.